Caer Caradoc Hill in Shropshire

At the end of September I spent a weekend with my extended family in Shropshire to celebrate the Australian contingent being in the country and my cousin's 40th wedding anniversary of "the best wedding ever" on 30th September 1972!

A house had been rented just outside All Stretton which had a wonderful view of the hills nearby.

Caer Caradoc Hill from The Oaks
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 11" x 16"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is my sketch of Caer Caradoc Hill which I did late Saturday afternoon after my cousin's husband had climbed to the top in the morning.

The hill is made of Pre-Cambrian rock (see page 3 of the link) and has a whaleback shape.  It's approximately 459 metres or 1500 feet above sea level. From the top you can look north to The Wrekin, a hill in east Shropshire, look east to Wenlock Edge, a limstone escarpment just outside Much Wenlock and south west to the Long Mynd situated a little way down the road just past Church Stretton.

On top of the hill are the remains of an Iron Age Hill Fort (see aerial view plus you can read more about the Iron Age in Shropshire).

The hill is associated with Battle of Caer Caradoc in 50 AD.  King Caractacus was a first century British chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe who became King of the Britons between 43-50AD and led the British resistance to the Roman conquest. There are many legends associated with King Caractacus - also known as Caradoc - and one of them is that he made a last stand with his followers on this hill - which is now known as Caer Caradoc. He was defeated and Caractacus was taken, as a prisoner, to Rome.  There he pleaded for his life in front of the Emperor Claudius - and got drawn by nineteenth century artists for his efforts!